Method of making soles.



'W. B. GREENE.

' METHOD OF MAKING SOLES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25,1911.

. 7' I M, J; ,5. 6

llhlllll lll dTATlE PATEETT @FFTQE WILLIAM B. GREENE, OF NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD OF MAKING SOLES.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, KVILLIAM a citizen of the United States, and resident of Naticl-z, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain 110V and useful Improvements in Methods of Making Soles, of which the following is specification.

This invention has for its object, first, to enable relatively thin sole-leather to-be employed in the manufacture cfouter soles for boots and shoes, without presenting an undesirably thin edge.

The invention also has for its object to increase the durability of a sole-leather outer sole and. to provide on the flesh side of the sole a depression, the margin of which extends substantially parallel with the trimmed edge of the sole and forms an abutmentor shoulder for the inwardly turned portion of the boot or shoe upper, the portion of the upper whicn liesc-n the outer sole being thmefore depressed somewhat below the 'eX- posed marginal portion of the flesh side of the outer sole.

The invention consists'in the improved method of making the sole, as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,-Figure 1 represents a top plan view illustrating suitable means for producing the sole and practicing the method constituting my invention. Fig. 2 represents a section on line 2=-2 of Fig. 1 illustrating the first step of the method. Fig. 3 represents a view similar to Fig. 2 illustrating the second step. Fig. 4 represents a perspective view of the completed sole, a portion of the same being broken mvay.

- The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In carrying out my invention, I take an outer sole 12 which has been cut by a die to give its edge the usual form possessed by an outer sole prior to the final trimming and burnishing operations, and placcthe same, with its grain side 13 downward, on a suitable bed or support 14 formed to cover the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 25,

13. GREENE,

Patented Nov. re, 1911.

Serial No. 629,34

. are formed to accurately lit and bear closely on all parts of the edge of the sole. For convenience in removing the completed sole, the sections 15 and 15 are separable from each other, the section 15 being here shown as being rigidly attached by screws 16 to the bed 1 while the section 15 is movable toward and from the section 15, suitable means being employed to rigidly hold the section 15 in its confining relation to the section 15. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3, I haveindicated movable struts 17v hinged to the section 15" and adapted to be operated by means not shown, to move the said section toward and from the section 15. The sole, supported and confined as described, is next subjected to pressure which forms an indented central area in its flesh side, the pressing in-' strumentality here shown. being a platen 18 which is movable toward. and from the bed 14 and is of smaller area than the sole, the platen being sole-shaped and'arranged so that its edge is parallel with the inner surface of the curb or die and is separated therefrom by a continuous space-preferably about one-quarter of an inch in width. The platen is moved from the position shown by Fig. 2 to that shown by Fig. 3 by suitable mechanism not shown, adapted to force the platen into the flesh side of the sole and thus form the indented central area 19, the sole being suitably moistened or in temper. The pressure imparted by the platen 18, and the confinement of the edge of the sole by the curb, result in the formation of an offset marginal area 20 surroundingthe indented area 19. Said marginal area is composed in part of material displaced from the central portion of the sole by pressure of the platen 18 thereon. The displaced material is prevented by the curb from moving outwardly to increase the area of the sole so that its displacement is transverse to the faces of the sole. The thickness of the marginal portion of the sole, of which the offset .area- 20 forms one side, is therefore consid erably greater than the natural thickness of. the leather, portion of the sole, of which the indented central area forms one side, is considerably less than the natural thickness of the leather.

The displacement of the material in formwhile the thickness of the the edge of which is permanently thickened and does not lose its increased thickness after the removal from the pressing surfaces.

I find-that 1 am able, by treating a sole in the manner described, to so increase, the

thickness of its edge that the edge will require a trimming tool or iron, as it is technically termed, of considerably greater width than would be required by a sole of the thickness of the original leather.

The thickness of the edge-ofan outer sole is customarily designated. in shoe factories by the size or number of the trimming iron for which it is adapted. I have succeeded in so increasing the thickness of the sole edge in the manner described, that while the original thickness of the leather was such as to to increase the thickness of the ness less than the natural thickness of the leather where the marginal area intersects the edge of the sole and is composed in part of material displaced from the central area,

the said edge being molded or formed by the pressure of the displaced material against the edge-confining curb and having a permanent thickness which is greater than the natural thiclmess. of the leather.

' In cutting out a sole by a die the edge of the sole is usually left by the die somewhat inclined or beveled so that the area of the flesh side is somewhat less than that of the edge the desired form, waste of material being thus caused. The redistribution of the material at the marginal portion-of the sole above described, expands the marginal portion of the flesh side and theportion of the sole edge adjacent thereto, sufficiently to remove the bevel and leave the entire edge at right angles with the sides of the sole. The width of the raised marginal area 20 is such that the final edge of the sole formed by the, trimmer, is wholly outside of the shoulder forming the margin of the indented area.

I claim The method of thickening the edge of a sole leather outer sole which consists in confining the said edge against outward displacement tending to enlarge the area of the sole and, while the edge is so confined, supporting the entire grain'side of the sole and subjecting a portion of the fleshside of less area than the entire area of the sole to pressure tending to reduce the thickness'thereof while leaving the marginal portion beyond said compressed portion free to expand in a direction transverse to thetace .ot the sole only, the said pressure and the confinement of the edge of the sole causing a permanent increase in the thickness of said marginal portion.'

In testimony whereof vI have afiixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM B. GREENE. Witnesses:

ARTHUR W. BROOK M RION EATON. 

